Five Things Totally Wrong With Freestyle!
The problem with freestyle is that it has devolved into fighting
. Sounds contradictory, I know, but I began learning martial arts back in the sixties, and I have seen a different face of freestyle. This was a freestyle that was actually more effective, easier to learn, and tempers the personality to grow a better human being.
Now, I have nothing against modern martial arts, like the MMA practiced in the UFC, or learning ground and pound and all the other types of freestyle. Truth, I think some of this stuff would have come in pretty handy back when I was first learning the arts. That said, consider my following disgruntlements in connection with freestyle.
Controlled freestyle in the martial arts effectively died when people started wearing protective gear. Sure, we occasionally wore wraps and things back then, but the purpose was to protect injuries that had already occurred. The breaking point, however, was when school owners began making money selling pads and gloves, they pandered to mothers fears, and this halted little Johnny from learning about the true control possible through the martial arts.
Bruce Lee took a frightful toll on freestyle by introducing bouncing. He watched films of Mohammad Ali, realized that bouncing disrupted timing, and changed the world of freestyle. Unfortunately, the effect was also that people stopped learning about timing, and stopped observing a whole fact of life, for time, as you may not have known, keeps this universe going.
With a lack of reality and a lack of timing eating at the innards of budding students, a loss of control was quick to follow. I remember seeing a fellow with three karate lessons under his belt taken to a tournament and encouraged to fight, not to get a point, but to fight. He fought, there were injuries, and nobody showed any control. And control, control through timing and reality, is what the martial arts evolution is really all about.
The final straw behind the downfall of controlled freestyle had to do with loss of respect. I was taught to bow when I entered the school, and to bow when I got on the mat, and to bow to my classmates and partners and everybody else who crossed my path, and it all showed respect. Now there is an attitude of we're tough and the hell with the other school, and this utterly destroys the art of freestyle, and even the fact of human compassion.
I know there will be those who will not accept what I say, and, let's face it, my criticisms must be tempered by some of the marvelous things that are inherent in the arts that have developed, and this includes the mixed martial arts and the ultimate fighting championships styles. There are things to be learned in the martial arts that are popular today, and, I am not opposed to these new arts. When I see people showing a total lack of respect, fighting merely to beat each other up, I am on the other side, the old side, the side that shows compassion for their fellow man.
So, I ask you the question, what can you do to resurrect the old attitude of respect? Will getting rid of gloves and pads enable people to feel the reality of what they are doing, and get rid of harmful attitudes? And, can you do this and still make the art work?
by: Al Case
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